RMG exports defy odds
Garment exports continue to go from strength-to-strength one year after the Rana Plaza disaster, rising 17.79 percent year-on-year in April to $1.92 billion.
It fetched $19.97 billion in the first ten months of the fiscal year, up 15.37 percent year-on-year, according to data from Export Promotion Bureau.
Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, however, expressed reservations about the figures, attributing the good performance to the release of backlogs.
Many factories, particularly those housed in shared buildings, are lacking in work orders, as international retailers adopt an overcautious approach towards sourcing, he said. About 45 percent of the country's garment factories are housed in converted or shared buildings.
“Some international retailers have pulled out work orders from shared buildings over the last few months,” Azim added.
Meanwhile, overall exports, too, had a good run in April, recording a year-on-year increase of 15.87 percent.
Some $2.41 billion was raked in last month to take the ten-month collection figure to $24.65 billion, which is an improvement of 13.18 percent over the previous year's figure.
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